User blog:Tess the Golden/Black Furred Shadow
Author's Note Here we go. The plot thickens ... I've added flour to the water it was before XD And introducing Philibb and Rishard, two of my most favourite characters in TotFP. Philibb <3 I may or may not have a small crush on him (but that would mean I'm cheating on Marcus). lol OK, time for the actual story. (Or not: Philibb and Marcus <3<3<3) Chapter 2 Black Furred Shadow It was a night not fit for man nor beast. The wind roared through the trees of the Silvis Dimidio Woods, and the rain pierced even the thickest canopy of leaves. However, the wind couldn't get below the trees, so only the tops should be moving. A bush rustled ever so slightly. A trained ear could hear it and a trained eye could see it, but not much else. And most were asleep at this time, the darkest hour of the night. Most, but not all. For a pair of eyes glowed in the bushes. A deep purple, they looked tired, so tired. But, darting back and forth, they still seemed to whisper urgently to their owner: Push on! They will find us! A twig cracked, and the eyes were gone. ><>< The sun had just started to rise, though it was still hidden behind the trees. In a clearing in the woods, just beyond Quinesse Castle, a running track was set up. A simple oval of hard beaten dirt which now echoed with footfalls as a lone figure circled it. Tirazen sighed, breathing in the cold morning air as she commenced her pre-dawn training. It felt good to be alive on a morning like this. The fresh, clear morning breeze whistled about her ears as she drove herself on to even faster speeds, not pausing to notice the birds just beginning to chirp sleepily to the dawn. Suddenly the light grey daagmot came to a sliding, stumbling stop. She had heard a noise that had no right to be there. The morning sounds were birdsong and the waving of the leaves, not cracking twigs and muffled cries. Tirazen picked up her sword in a steel-tinted paw and went to investigate. Padding softly through the trees, she looked warily about her, stopping every once in a while to listen. She was just turning back when the bushes rustled just in front of her. Swiftly turning around, she was suddenly knocked over by a flying, dark shape. Her sword was knocked from her paw and went spinning backwards as she and the other creature tumbled to the ground in a heap. Tirazen extended her claws and fangs and was about to claw this new creature when she realized it was another daagmot. But a strange daagmot indeed! Scrambling upright, Tirazen saw that the creature that stood before her was pure black, not a hair of grey on him anywhere. Besides this colouring, already rare in daagmots, he also had deep purple eyes, which now glared warily at her. The rather short daagmot was even dressed in a peculiar fashion. He had a chain mail shirt on with diamond-shaped breastplates, on two of which were engraved the initials “PS”. These alternated with the chain mail and gave the stranger the appearance of a silver-and-bronze checker board. Just then, the crack of a twig was heard behind them. The new comer didn't even turn, just grabbing Tirazen's paw and beginning to run, barely giving her enough time to snatch up her sword. “Who are you?” she asked, pulling her paw from his and evening out into a steady lope. “Duck!” yelled the other as an arrow whistled overhead. Then he shouted, “I'm … Philibb!” He was obviously exhausted, and Tirazen didn't press him to talk anymore. She slightly slowed her pace, so that soon the two daagmots were running side by side. “What on the Fox is chasing us, anyway?” she gasped, when they seemed to have put enough distance between themselves and their pursuers. “Leapdogs”, the newcomer answered shortly, not even slowing his pace. “Leapdogs?!” Tirazen cried. “Don't they know the law?” One of the most important laws on Foxine was the law against hunting, killing, or eating sentient animals. “Oh, they know it all right,” replied Philibb, dodging the last of the trees. They had made it to the field separating the Castle from the Forest, the last stage of their frantic run. Tirazen dared looking behind them, only to see dozens of leapdogs pour out from the trees and spread out to reveal a shadowy figure mounted on a rare black balmine. The balmine raised its tail as if to strike, although there was nothing in range. “Look out!” Tirazen shrieked. “They've got a balmine!” “Split!” called the other, and the two daagmots began running away from each other at a slight angle. Tirazen headed for the main door in a zigzag pattern in case the balmine was aiming its lighting at her. But it seemed she was safe. Reaching the main door, opened for her arrival, she hoped Philibb hadn't been hit. Whoever he was, she didn't want him to be fried by a balmine. ><>< A group of pups up early were playing by the pond when Philibb rushed in by a side door. His tail had been singed by the lightning and was smoking. The pups were terrified at this black burning monster that seemed to be coming to eat them. But their shrieks turned to laughter as the stranger, whom they now saw was a daagmot, rushed straight for the pond, tripped, and fell in with a splash. Surfacing, Philibb found himself surrounded by pups, who obviously thought it was a game and were jumping in the pond. A small, dark grey pup tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey dog … 're you a monster?” Philibb jumped right into the game. “Haha, yes I am. I'm a big scary monster that eats pups. Have you seen any around?” he growled, showing his fangs. The pups shrieked excitedly. The dark-furred one, obviously the spokespup, said in as deep a voice as he could “Nono, there's no pups 'round here. On'y us big growed-up persons.” Tirazen arrived at the pond to find Philibb rolling and laughing in the pond, his burnt tail obviously forgotten as he chased the pups around. “All right now, Rishard, Dimmon, come out of there. It's too cold outside to play in the pond right now.” “But bitch Tirazen, he started it,” the grey pup pointed at Philibb, who sank slowly down and hid under the water until only the tips of his ears showed, an action which brought roars of laughter from the pups. “Philibb gets out too. You should be ashamed of yourself, playing in the pond like a pup, at your age. How old are you, anyway?” The pups howled with laughter again, some of them falling into the pond again. Philibb scooped these up and tossed them onto the soft grass as he emerged from the pond with sopping wet fur, drooped ears, and hair plastered over his eyes. “Well, perhaps you're not so very far from a pup yourself. You can't be more than ten seasons!” Tirazen continued, looking down at Philibb. Philibb drew himself up to his full height, although he wasn't very tall even then, and retorted, “I'll have you know that I might even be older than you!” “No way. I'm twelve and a half!” “And I'm thirteen, so there!” The pups began to guffaw again, but were quickly silenced by a stern glare from Tirazen. “Now then, pups, off you go the the castle and dry off.” And you, Philibb, need to get that tail seen to.” she continued in a buisness-like manner after the pups had scurried off to the castle. Philibb willingly followed her. The morning breezes were starting to chill him through his wet fur, and now that he was out of the water, his tail had begun to ache again. Turning to survey the damage, he soon found himself chasing his tail around in circles as Tirazen looked on disapprovingly. Suddenly she grabbed his tail and put it in his paw. Some of the hairs on the tip were burnt off, and it hurt when touched, but otherwise there was no real damage. “Come ON,” Tirazen tapped her foot impatiently. “You can look at it when we get to the infirmary.” ><>< Philibb winced as the doctor smeared some salve on his tail. “But I have to see the Queen! It's urgent!” he complained. “Urgent or not, you're not getting out of here until this tail is bandaged. How on the Fox did you get a second degree burn? Did you fall into a fire or something?” Philibb clenched his teeth as the doctor began bandaging his tail and replied, “Something like that.” ><>< Tirazen knocked on the richly ornamented door of the Queen's private chamber. “That's you, Tirazen, isn't it,” came a voice from behind the door. “Back from your morning training? Come in.” Tirazen pushed the door open softly and entered the carpeted room. Queen Tessa was still in her nightclothes, but she had on slippers and was sitting in the small window seat reading. As Tirazen came in, she set down her book and turned to face her. Blue eyes met blue eyes, both framed by glasses. “Well, what have you got to report?” Tessa asked after Tirazen had bowed. “So, while I was doing my early morning training in the woods, I heard a strange noise, like branches breaking and muffled cries. I went to investigate and met another daagmot, a stranger. He has black fur and purple eyes. We heard more rustling in the bushes, and he grabbed my paw and ran. He said his name was Philibb and we were being chased by leapdogs. I looked back when we got to the field, and there were at least a dozen of them. Behind them was someone riding a black balmine.” The Queen sat up straight. “What did he look like?” she asked urgently. “I couldn't tell, he was too far away.” Tirazen looked at the Queen quizzically. Tessa sat back again. “Go on.” “Well, we split up for fear of the balmine zapping us. I went through the main gate and he went in the direction of the east door. When I got there, he was playing in the pond with the pups! So now he's in the infirmary with a burnt tail, and I came up to report to you.” “Thank you, Tirazen. You are dismissed.” After Tirazen had gone, Tessa picked up her book and tried to continue reading, but her mind wandered. A black balmine … That could only be one person. Julien! Ending Note Finished already! XD Sorry to end on a cliffhanger, but I've always had a perchance to them. Since my first story, Tessa's Shirt. *looks at it* *dies* Each chapter was at most half a page long, and they all ended on cliffhangers. "Will she survive? Find out in the next chapter!" "What will happen to her? Find out in the next chapter!" "Let us leave her there for the present." *facepalm* Most of the book consisted of that. XD Anyway, next chapter, Colours of the Sun, is coming soon! And one step closer to my beloved Marcus ... <3 I should stop obsessing over him XD TheAuthor Queen of Tesslantia 19:43, July 20, 2016 (UTC) Category:Blog posts Category:Chapters